6 Months after the Cornwall Storms, see the Before and After photos

6 Months ago, Cornwall and a lot of the Uk was battered by some of the worst storms to reach our shores with devastation being caused up and down the country. 6 Months later with the sun shining and the holiday makers flocking to the county I thought it would be interesting to re-visit some of the locations of my previous photos and compare how the places look now compared to when they were ravaged by storms just 6 months earlier.

Firstly I visit Mawgan Porth which was hit by the storms in February 2014 although there wasn't too much physical damage the Mawgan Porth Storm was particularly bad due to the high tides and the surging tide that whipped up through the village causing a mess of debris and ripping up the foundations at the entrance to the beach.

The edge of the beach where the road wraps around was pulled down onto the beach by the ocean, but today the sand has been replaced and the beach safe again.

When the high tide hit, the road was completely flooded, this left a trail of sand, stones, wood, and lots of rubbish across the road. Today looks a very different place with clean roads with a light dusting of sand.

The one thing that warmed my heart during the storms was all across Cornwall as soon as it was safe, the local residents were immediately out in force clearing the damage and getting towns and villages back in business. Here you can see locals with the help of a tractor clearing away the debris from the road. 6 Months later the shops are back open stocked ready for the holiday makers and it would be hard to believe the storms ever hit. 

The next set of images show just how far up the road the storm surge pushed it's way into the village of Mawgan Porth. This morning shows the road clear and ready and waiting for the tourists to arrive and enjoy a day on the beach.

This last image shows the entrance to the old petrol station in Mawgan Porth being cleared by local residents and today beautifully clear ready for the summer's sunday visitors.

Next I went back to visit Fistral Beach a place in my opinion that has completely changed by the storms and is still effecting people even today. The visible damage was to the Fistral Surf Centre building that had it's foundations ripped out from underneath it. There was a lot of damage from the storms with the beach littered with wooden beams once used as fence posts, the sand dunes ripped away and the beach cut back by around 10 foot. But if you visit the beach today you will notice how the beach is now shaped completely differently. The once rather flat beach now has a steep slope down to the waters edge and when the tide comes in the water stays in for a lot longer and the waves turn into a shore break. At low tide it is also now noticeable the amount of sand that has been removed from the beach and now exposes a lot of new rocks on the shore line. Although over time the sands will shift and as the tides come and go things will constantly change but right now comparing the beach to 6 months ago things do look very different.

The outside decking to the Fistral Blu Bar was completely ripped down along with the foundations but 6 months on the decking is back, bigger and stronger than before and ready to enjoy a beer on whilst watching the sun go down. 

 

One of the most noticeable aspects of the winter storms at Fistral was the amount of marine litter that was washed up. Fishing crates, rubber gloves and lots of boat rope. 6 Months on the steps are repaired and cleared of all the entwined rope.

At the time of the storms there were so many places that all had been damaged, some of my favourite places some that I don't usually visit but everywhere had a big clean up and restoration project to see them face before the summer months and the onslaught of the tourists. One place that was effected was Lusty Glaze beach where the storms ripped apart many beach huts and even swept ice cream freezers straight out of buildings and onto the beach. Lusty Glaze is definitely back in business after the storms and well in truly in time for summer with their additional marquees up for their sundowner music sessions.

Lastly and maybe most iconic was the damage the occurred and kept occurring at Towan beach in Newquay. Night after night massive waves crashed into Towan beach causing more and more destruction each time. Ripping out the road that leads to the beach, ripping out walls, tearing off doors and eventually bursting holes into concrete walkways and ripping them away. Although the beach is open and looking beautiful you can still see a lot of the damage caused 6 months on. The road thankfully has been repaired and the walls replaced but the giant hole is still there and access to the beach via the stairs where these pictures were taken are still not open.

Although Towan beach looks very different today to what it looked like 6 months previous there is still a lot to do to get the beach back to it's former glory before the storms in Newquay that ripped this beach apart.